Where do we start?

Hi everyone!We just sailed our new (to us) Ericson 38 home to Portland ME and are very discouraged by the amount of water in the bilge. Every day, I am using a shop vac to take out about 6 gallons of water from the bilge. Where do we start looking for the source of the leak? Thanks!

Question number one is: is it fresh water or salt water?

If fresh, check every inch of every hose coming out of the tanks. They get brittle and split over time.

If salt, start with the through hulls and stuffing box and rule things out one by one.

Item 1.a

IMHO, at the same time you are searching for the leak, I would strongly consider getting both your manual and electric bilge pumps in order.

Newbee said:

Hi everyone!We just sailed our new (to us) Ericson 38 home to Portland ME and are very discouraged by the amount of water in the bilge. Every day, I am using a shop vac to take out about 6 gallons of water from the bilge. Where do we start looking for the source of the leak? Thanks!

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A little "bilge csi" is in order, as laid out so well by tenders.
Starting further back in your ownership process... was it dry when you viewed it? When you trial-sailed and motored it? When surveyed?
Dry on the delivery trip?

Absent some aged fresh water hose loostening or splitting, I would look at the stuffing box. Back when we had one of those, I always had trouble getting the pressure on the packing just right. When off a tiny part of the turn on the nut, it would drip even when stopped. In our situation a quart or two a day at most was the result. Being a rather inept boat fixer, especially as applied to stuffing boxes... I changed ours over to a PSS shaft seal in '95 and have never had any more water enter from that source.

Perhaps the delivery home was the first time the over-age packing was really put to use in... years (?)...

If that's the problem, there are some threads here and an awesome picture article on MaineSail's site on how to repack one of those "mature technology" devices.

There's another packing gland at the top of the rudder tube, but that should never leak when the boat's at rest.

It's not uncommon for the prior owner (s) to ignore any and all of this maintenance for years or even a decade.

If it's a seeping keel bolt, that's a whole different problem (highly unlikely at this stage of investigation, tho).

Keep us posted.

Loren

edit: add link:
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/stuffing_box

If salt water, some classic points to check (while sailing and/or motoring) are the rudder gland, prop shaft, engine raw water pump, anchor locker drain.

This is a disturbing post on many levels. 6 gallons in an E38 bilge is a significant amount of water since the TAFG grid takes up much of the space to begin with. Next question is where are the bilge pumps and why aren't they doing their job? You say you sailed the boat home? I would have hoped that you would know where the pumps are, they are functioning, and other implied knowledge absent in this post.

Not to sound preachy but you have to admit its a bit weird to ask "hey where is all this water coming from" in a boat you just purchased and sailed home? I'd be tearing the boat apart to find the source.

Other than that, welcome to the 'board, you have a great boat there, just take the time to get to know her, make her safe and you will be rewarded with a great all round boat.

RT

Assuming it isn't raining, and the boat is at the dock (not taking green water over the rail), and all the seacocks are closed.....then you check the stuffing box, and mark the water level on the water tanks to see if those are leaking.

If none of that turns up a source - then I would say you have a badly leaking hull to deck joint - just like our E38. Just before we had the keel dropped and rebedded, we splashed the boat one spring and found a couple of inches of water in the bilge within about 10 minutes - which was when we knew we had to act.

If you rule out everything else as a source, I would say you have to have the boat hauled RIGHT NOW for an inspection of the keel-hull joint, and probably have the keel dropped and rebedded. Six gallons a day will flood the bilge in short order and ruin the cabin sole if the bilge pump breaks down or if you don't make it to the boat for a couple of days.

It's a pretty easy test. Fill the bilge with fresh water, and have the boat lifted in the slings. With the keel hanging, if you then have water leaking OUT of the keel-hull joint, you have found your problem. It can leak once you put the boat on the hard too, but it won't be as fast, as the weight of the boat pressing down on the joint can help seal off the leak. So see if you can get the yard to leave it hanging over lunch.

Akavishon said:

If salt water, some classic points to check (while sailing and/or motoring) are the rudder gland, prop shaft, engine raw water pump, anchor locker drain.

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Thanks every one. We had a through inspection on the hard and a sea trial with an inspection. The previous owner is a well respected boat builder and took care of the small issues that were noted in the survey, I had read as much as I could find on this site regarding ericson 38's and noted leaky keelboats seemed to be a common issue. Our surveyor paid attention to our concerns and felt the bolts were in good shape, but when we arrived on board, with our certified captain to sail her home, there was a small amount of water in the bilge. The owner said he had a fresh water leak as he was changing out the shower bilge. We sailed and motored 6 hours home and there was a lot of water in the bilge. Our captain looked at the stuffing box and said it was dripping more than it should be, and told my hubby how to tighten it. The next morning there was aot of water, but not as much. About 2 gallons. Today is day three and it was raining. There were small drips coming down the mast, but not as much water in the morning. Tonight, when I looked just a small bit. This weekend we will find all the pumps And do our bilge CSI! Thanks for your patience!